Forststeig Elbsandstein - Day 2 - Grenzbaude to Ostrov

After a pretty restless night (how could we have forgotten how noisy those NeoAir matresses can be when turning on them?) and some porridge for breakfast, we started our hike from the Grenzbaude forestry hut towards Ostrov.

We first walked the short bit of trail back to the Forststeig main route and followed that along the border on the nice trail between green grass and roots. While the grass looked so fresh and nice, it was also full of ticks, so we used a lot of insect repellent.

About half a kilometer after the turn off to the “Taubenteich-Biwak” the trail led away from the border into the czech forest towards the Christianaburg (Kristin Hrádek). Here the route alternated between wider forest roads and small foot paths. In one place we lost the trail for a moment, but soon found it again thanks to our GPX track.

A little later we took a short break at a little shelter, before starting our climb to the “hoher Schneeberg”. That's when we also noticed that there were no yellow vertical paint stripes anymore to follow. Instead here the trail was marked with small signs in a red-white-red coloring.

The ascent to the Schneeberg was really beautiful, on a steep rocky path between blueberry bushes (which unfortunately didn't have any berries). The trail reminded us of alpine trails, partly because of the rocky character, but also because it was really rather steep.

At the summit (or rather pleateau) of the Schneeberg we took a break with a nice, cool beverage in the old restaurant by the tower, then we continued on towards the small town of Sneznik, which we reached a lot sooner than expected. That trail section was rather unsepectacular, mostly on wide forest roads. Only shortly before we reached Ostrov we finally saw the typical sandstone rock formations.

In Ostrov we crossed the small village until we reached the “Autokemp pod Cisarem”, which was our final destination for the day, at only 14:00 o'clock and 18km. Since we arrived so early, the reception was still closed, so we sat in the restaurant at the camping park and had yet another cool beverage as well as some ice cream. Then we checked in, set up our tent and spent the rest of the day just resting, having snacks and planning our sections for the next few days. In the evening we paid the restaurant another visit to have dinner. The food was simple, but tasty and also very affordable.